The Things They Carried Blog 3

In Obrien’s The Things They Carried contradictions are used to highlight specific details or events that Obrien wants the reader to think critically about. Contradiction is a combination of statements, ideas, or features of a situation that are opposed to one another, oppositions cause the reader to think about how two things relate in a story. In Obrien’s The Man I Killed he uses the idea of contradiction by stating:

The Skin at his left cheek was peeled back in three ragged strips, his right cheek was smooth and hairless, there was a butterfly open his chin, his neck was open to the spinal cord and the blood there was thick and shiny and it was this wound that had killed him.” (118 Obrien)

The contradiction that Obrien highlights between his torn flesh and his smooth cheek brings thoughts of the consequences of war, showing what war has done to this twenty year old Vietcong youth. Obrien continues with his contradictions with a description of a butterfly on the dead man’s face possibly to show symbolize a metamorphosis as a result of Kiowa killing the boy. Butterflies are also thought of to be a symbol of life and that lies in direct opposition to the death of the young, weak framed twenty year old. The theme of contradictions goes into further depth in Obrien’s Speaking of Courage. Obrien sets the scene for a contradictive action from Norman Bowker when he writes “For a moment he’d almost pulled over, just to talk, but instead he’d pushed down hard on the gas pedal” (133 Obrien).Norman Bowker has known Sally since high school and knows her extensively, watching as she got married and moved into her small house by the lake. Norman Bowker therefore slamming of the gas pedal is the opposite of what he desires to do, yet he does it. Obrien sets the scene for Norman Bowkers contradiction to possibly show how PTSD or anxieties have caused Norman to have difficulty with communication, even with those he knows very well. Contradictions are used throughout The Things They Carried to allow the reader to think how two opposing ideas relate and what the cause and effects of that are.